Final Fifth
by Ivorycat
Summary: Sequel to Potential Second Chance: Autumn is getting closer to AI and the Scoobies as they search for the fifth "special" child plus love, or something like it, is in the air. Yeah, lame summary. Please just review.
1. Chapter 1 Hanging on the Bleachers

                                        **FINAL FIFTH**

NOTE: I own none of Joss's characters but I do own my personal characters.

A/N: This is the sequel to my story, Potential Second Chance, or PSC as I like to call it. You might not be familiar with some of my characters so here is a quick recap:

Autumn Tucker: Autumn is a half slayer (the physical half), age 15 from New York but transferred over to Sunnydale. Her slayer powers were divided in half as a default of Buffy dying twice. Autumn has fiery red hair and sometimes a temper to match. Wesley is her watcher.

Margaret Strider: Maggie is the other half of the slayer (the heart) and she, too, is 15 She grew up in London but moved to Sunnydale to go to school in America. Maggie is under the strict supervision of Giles, her uncle. The strict supervision includes not being allowed to go near coffee and sweets even though she is crazy about them.

Jeff Tucker: Jeff is Autumn's seventeen-year-old brother, who believes in things beyond what the eye can see. He has also taken a liking to Dawn.

If anything else confuses you you're just going to have to read PSC. Now on with the story.

                                                        CHAPTER 1 

          Autumn stretched out on the bleachers of the football field at school, the sun reflected off her brightly colored shirt and light blue jeans. Her hair flew in the gentle breeze that was blowing. Maggie sat under the bleacher that Autumn was on, munching away at a Hershey bar. Dawn sat next to Autumn, a book in her lap, making a poor attempt to study.

"I am so bored," Autumn sighed, circling a pink pattern on her shirt.

"Well, we _could_ go to third period," Maggie said, equal boredom in her voice.

"Nah," all three girls agreed at once.

A beam crossed Dawn's face. "Jeff!" she called, shooting up and waving.

          Autumn looked down and saw her tall, dark haired brother, who waved back at Dawn with his usual cheesy grin on his face. Autumn noted that Jeff only formed that disgusting grin when Dawn was around. Jeff walked up to the bleachers and stood before Dawn.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," Dawn returned the greeting and his smile.

Autumn and Maggie shared a look. Gross!

"What's up?" Jeff asked the tall brunette, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing," Dawn shrugged, copying his move as she put her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "We're all just, you know, avoiding classes."

Jeff nodded and soon an awkward silence spread between the two of them.

"Next on Jenny Jones," Autumn suddenly said, breaking the annoying silence spell. "Older brothers who drool over young females."

Maggie giggled a little as she continued to eat her chocolate bar.

Jeff sneered down at his sister before turning his attention back to Dawn. "So what are you doing tomorrow night?"

Autumn felt a gag coming on.

"Why?" Dawn asked, amazingly casual.

"Because I'm not doing anything," Jeff said. "So I thought that if _you_ weren't doing anything that we might do, uh, that kind of thing together."

Dawn smiled bashfully as she replied, "Well, I was going to do a _lotta _ homework and watch my sister patrol without me but I guess I can rearrange my schedule."

"Cool," Jeff said in his I'm-a-very-cool-older-guy-with-great-hair like tone that he often used around Dawn.

"Around seven at the Bronze?" Dawn asked.

Jeff just nodded and headed down to get to his next class.

"That was smooth of him," Maggie smiled as Dawn sat back down.

"That was lame of him," Autumn corrected, reaching for the chocolate yoo-hoo that rested between her and Dawn.

"Don't say that," Dawn said to Autumn. "He's... sweet."

"So his wrestling team body and Hollywood smile has nothing to do with it?" Maggie asked slyly.

"Oh, this coming from the girl who drools over Angel like he's a walking sundae?" Dawn returned the slyness.

Maggie blushed a little. "He's more like a side of beef."

"Oh, brother," Autumn muttered. "What is with you two?"

"No crushes, Autumn?" Maggie asked her red haired friend.

"Crushes on what?" Autumn said with a snap of her tongue. "These Sunnydale guys? They're either vamps or demons."

"Unless they're tall, dark, broody, and just plain yummy vamps," Maggie said dreamily, getting herself a look from both Dawn and Autumn. "Um, yes, vamps or demons..."

"_Anyway_," Autumn continued. "I don't have time to think on the whole boy thing. Lately the only guy in my friggin' life is—"

"Hello," Wesley greeted, walking up to the girls from out of nowhere.

"Wesley," Autumn finished her sentence. "Hey."

"Hello," Maggie addressed him.

"Hey, Wes," Dawn said, sipping a can of soda through a straw.

"Are you training tonight?" Wesley asked, turning his attention back to Autumn.

"That depends," Autumn said, putting down her yoo-hoo after taking a long sip of it. "Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"I doubt you'd like my answer to that," Wesley replied cooly.

"Oh, goody, training!" Autumn squealed in mock enthusiasm. "That'll be ever so much fun!"

Maggie laughed softly as she finished off her chocolate bar.

"Good to see you're excited," Wesley said to Autumn then turned to Maggie. "You'll need to be there, too."

Maggie's giggles immediately silenced, giving Autumn the turn to laugh. Dawn shook her head in amusement at the two as she continued to drink her soda.

"Is that all, Wesley?" Autumn asked, trying to cover her crossness.

"Yes." Wesley addressed all three of them when he said, "Shouldn't you all be in class?"

"Nah," they all replied simultaneously like they had done earlier.

"You all do realize that I have the power to give detention?" the watcher stated.

          That did it. Dawn and Maggie both gathered their things and were running down the bleachers in no time. Autumn shook her head with an eye roll and turned her attention back to the football field.

"That's goes for you, too, Copper Curls," Wesley said, using Spike's nickname for the girl.

Autumn sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she said, "I'll be right there."

Wesley nodded and headed down the bleachers.

          Autumn released another sigh as she picked up what was left of her yoo-hoo and a couple of her books, also walking down the bleachers. As she headed back into the school someone shoved into her, making her drop her books and spill her chocolate drink on top of them.

"Hey, watch it!" Autumn snapped at whoever it was that had smacked into her.

She turned around to see a tall brown haired boy standing behind her, wearing a pair of shades. "Watch it yourself, Red," he retorted cooly.

"_You_ bumped into me," Autumn told him angrily.

"Yeah, I noticed." The boy took a comb from his jacket and began to straighten his hair. "So what?"

"Well, you can go buying yoo-hoos all willy nilly," Autumn said.

The boy scoffed as he turned to leave. "Chicas and sweets. So corny." He walked off without saying anything else.

"Well, all is forgiven!" Autumn shouted after him, her voice even more irate than it was before.

          She gathered her now sticky books and headed into the school towards her locker. Autumn went inside of the locker and grabbed a few tissues to try to clean the chocolate off her books, silently fuming about how she would be really late for class.

"You know most girls have a man slave do that _for_ them." Autumn looked up from her cleaning to see Jessica Porter, the sixteen-year-old freshman year repeat who's locker stood next to Autumn's.

"I'd have to get a man slave first," Autumn grumbled, still trying to remove chocolate from her algebra book.

"Oh, brother." Jessica suddenly grabbed Autumn's books and went over to the water fountain with them.

"Hey, what are you—?"

"Tissue, please," Jessica interrupted, holding out her hand. Autumn handed her what she asked for and Jessica scrubbed the chocolate away with the fountain's water in no time. "There you go. All shiny like." She handed Autumn the books back.

"Wow. Uh, thanks."

"Think nothing of it," Jessica said dismissively, flipping some of her long, brown hair over her back. "So what's up with you, Chica?"

          Autumn rolled her eyes in amusement. Whenever Jessica used that nickname "Chica" it brought out her full Mexican accent.

"Nothing is up," Autumn replied. "Besides how lame and retarded the male species is."

"I get it," Jessica nodded her head slowly, her arms folded across her chest. "You want smooches, right?"

Autumn sighed deeply and aggravated. "No, I do not crave the smooches. But I do crave the whole learning thing so see ya." She walked off down the hall, hoping to get to class on time.

A/N: Aren't sequels just plain fun? Of course they are. Please review. Oh, and I have this story pretty much planned out but if you have anything you want to see or want to suggest just let me know.


	2. Chapter 2 Trainin' and Snoozin'

**FINAL FIFTH**

NOTE: I own none of Joss's characters but I do own my personal characters.

A/N: This is the sequel to my story, Potential Second Chance, or PSC as I like to call it. You might not be familiar with some of my characters so you're going to have to read PSC.

                                                        CHAPTER 2

            Buffy, Willow, and Dawn sat around the living room of the Summers home that early evening, Willow typing away at her laptop, sitting at the coffee table. Buffy stared over the witch's shoulder at times to see what she was doing but her glance usually made its way over to Dawn, who sat in an arm chair, staring in the direction of the basement.

"Big ol' nickel for your thoughts, Dawnie," Buffy said.

Dawn turned towards her sister. "Huh? Oh, I was just wondering what they're doing down there."

"You know what they're doing," Willow said, still typing away at her computer, not looking up from the screen. "Autumn is being all teenaged-y and Wesley's being all watcher-y."

          Downstairs in the basement, a place that had been adopted as Autumn's new training area, the red head and Wesley stood going over some basic moves, or what Wesley _thought_ was basic moves.

"You can handle what you need to," Wesley said, making his way to the back of Autumn, suddenly wrapping an arm around her neck. "But what would you do if a vampire as large as me came up behind you and—?" Autumn suddenly kicked him in the leg, making Wesley fall back, rubbing his leg furiously.

"How's that?" Autumn asked sweetly, turning around to face him.

"Not exactly what I had in mind," Wesley grunted, still holding his aching leg.

"You are _such_ a girl," Autumn giggled softly then got from Wesley what she had named "the watcher" look. "Sorry."

"All right." Wesley slowly stood up again. "That might be enough for today." He glanced around. "What happened to Maggie tonight?"

"She said something about having to crash or whatever," Autumn replied with a shrug.

          Maggie lay snuggled up in her bed still fully clothed from school, her face trapped under half a dozen pillows, a blanket on top of her body, and snores coming now and again.

"Mmm... magically delicious," the young blonde girl murmured in her sleep.

          Autumn headed into the living room, followed by Wesley, both coming up from the basement, seeing that Spike had joined the three girls in the living room. Autumn wore a pair of white jogging pants with a long, pink stripe going down each side of the legs, and a pink tanktop to match the stripes. She also wore an exhausted look on her face.

"How was it?" Dawn asked Autumn.

"I'm all wiped like," Autumn replied, flopping down on the couch between Spike and Buffy.

Wesley's heart went out for his young charge a little as he said, "Why don't I take you to get something to eat?"

Autumn glanced at him. "No thanks, Wes. I'm eating with Fred tonight."

"Again?" Wesley asked, curious as to why she had been spending so much time with her.

"Well, you know, I like Fred," Autumn shrugged. "She's good with the whole listening thing."

"Speaking of AI," Spike suddenly piped up, turning his attention to Buffy. "Where's your future hubby?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow at him and replied cooly, "_Angel_ is still in LA. He still has some things to finish."

"Must make for those cold, lonely nights," Spike muttered, turning his head away and staring straight ahead.

          Fred and Gunn were in the living room of their new apartment later on that evening, unpacking the several boxes that they had left.

"Fred?" Gunn called to her, picking something up out of a box. "Exactly how many dart guns did you bring from the hotel?"

"Oh, come on, Charles," Fred smiled at him. "They're like... souvenirs." She pouted a little.

"I'm gonna miss it, too," Gunn sighed, sitting the gun back into the box. The doorbell went off then. "Got it." Gunn made his way over to the front door, revealing it to be Autumn. "Hey, Otty," he greeted, using the nickname he and Fred had developed for the girl.

"Hey," Autumn returned the greeting, entering the apartment. "I see you guys aren't all snuggled in like."

"Yeah," Fred nodded, looking around at all of their boxes. "I guess not."

"I'll go order a pizza," Gunn said to them, heading for the bedroom.

Fred turned to Autumn and smiled. "So how was school, Otty?"

Autumn returned her smile. "School-ish," the teenager replied. "Except for Wesley monitoring me at every period except for lunch."

Fred giggled a little, pushing a strand of brown hair behind her left ear. "Sounds like him." She and Autumn took a seat on the couch, Autumn releasing a light sigh. "Are you OK?" Fred asked softly, a little concern in her voice.

"Mm-hmm," Autumn nodded. "Just a little tired."

"Is everything all right?"

Autumn glanced towards Fred. She just always seemed to... care. "Just the whole slayer thing. It can take a lot out of you."

Fred put an arm around her, the move very natural to both of them. "I can't exactly fix the slayer thing but I think chocolate ice cream is the best cure for the tired part."

Autumn's smile increased as she nodded.

A/N: I realize that this chapter is really short and I apologize for that. Ever been to high school? It takes a lot out of you so that you can't focus on the whole writing thing. You know what would be good? Reviews.


	3. Chapter 3 Bronze Worthy

FINAL FIFTH 

NOTE: I own none of Joss's characters but I do own my personal characters.

A/N: This is the sequel to my story, Potential Second Chance, or PSC as I like to call it. You might not be familiar with some of my characters so you're going to have to read PSC.

                                                        CHAPTER 3

          Giles released a light yawn as he wondered out of his bedroom the next morning and down to the kitchen, expecting to see Maggie hovering over a bowl of lucky charms. The British man was surprised at the empty kitchen then glanced towards the clock. He quickly headed back upstairs, towards Maggie's room.

          Maggie hugged a pillow tightly as she slept, looking very peaceful. A hard knock at her door made the blonde girl jump up with a gasp. She tried to shake the sleep from her head and went over to her door, opening it.

"Ugh..." Maggie moaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Margaret, it's nearly eight. You're going to be late for school if you don't—" Giles got a good look at her, realizing she still wore her clothes from the previous day. "You've been asleep since yesterday afternoon?"

"Oh..." Maggie realized it. "Suppose I was. Thanks for waking me." She headed over to her dresser.

"Margaret," Giles said, sticking his hands into his pockets and leaning against her doorway. "You can't oversleep like this. I can't have you being late for school." 

"I know," Maggie said to him. "It's a one time thing, Uncle Rupert. I promise." Giles nodded and headed down the stairs. Maggie thought about something and called after him. "Do we have any lucky charms left?"

          Later that day Autumn walked through the halls of school with Dawn and Maggie as she usually did on a free period. The three of them made their way over to a bench that stood outside the main office, and sat on it lined up with Autumn in the middle of Dawn and Maggie.

"Tell me why we go to school again?" Dawn moaned. 

"To fail tests and to be made into rejects?" Autumn suggested.

"Don't even talk about failed tests," Maggie said. "I got a B on a history quiz."

Dawn rolled her eyes as she said, "Yeah, major damage there."

"I know," Maggie agreed, not catching on to Dawn's sarcasm. She smiled then and said, "But maybe I can get a certain sexy vampire to tutor me in history."

Autumn smiled at her friend. "Maggie, it is so obvious that your cute little school girl act ends when Giles is far enough away not to go "oh, dear" on you."

"Actually if he found out I even thought about this sort of thing _I'd_ be the one going oh, dear," Maggie said with a little smile. The blonde girl decided to take the attention of her as she said, "So, Dawn, you still going out with Jeff tonight?"

"Yes. We are officially Bronze worthy," Dawn replied happily.

"I wish I was anything worthy. I'm so... icky feeling lately," Autumn said.

"Oh, are you getting sick, luv?" Maggie asked with concern.

Autumn shook her head and sat up a little. "No. Just the whole being a girl, being a student, being a slayer, yadda, yadda, yadda thing."

Dawn shook her head and said, "You are so Buffy-esque."

"Good to hear," Autumn said with a roll of her eyes.

"But you guys could go you know," Dawn said, going back to the Bronze worthy issue. "I mean one night off from the whole half slayer thing?"

"You're right," Autumn slowly smiled. "I mean Wes won't care, right?" Both Dawn and Maggie busted up with laughter suddenly. "OK. So he'd care. Big deal. I'll go, anyway."

"Cool," Maggie said, standing. "Sounds totally smashing."

"Great." Dawn also stood. "Anyway, I'm going to get a head start on biology." She held the strap of her book bag tightly and headed off down the hall.

Autumn turned to Maggie and said, "And I'm going to get a head start on sleeping through algebra." She turned and walked away, opposite of Dawn.

Maggie watched both of them go and shrugged, pulling a chocolate bar from her pocket. "Oh, well," she shrugged before taking a large bite of the candy.

          Autumn stood in front of her mirror that early evening, holding several blouses in front of her chest, trying to decide on one. The red haired girl noticed that every shirt she owned was multi-colored or had one solid bright color. She could not imagine wearing black or white, as it was not how she saw the world.

Autumn held a hot pink top in front of her. "Hi. I'm Autumn and I'm a power ranger." She sat the blouse aside and picked up a canary yellow one. "Hi. I'm Autumn and I look like the slow light on the traffic light." Autumn tossed that blouse aside as well. "I so can't believe I'm from New York."

"That makes two of us." Autumn jumped a little at the sight of Jeff standing in her doorway.

Autumn gave him a glare. "You _want_ something?" she asked, going back to her shirts.

"What's up with you?" Jeff asked, entering the room. He picked up one of the skirts Autumn had put on her bed. "You going to have a Batman VS. Superman debate with Xander?"

"That's next week," Autumn said, snatching her skirt away from him. "And didn't Dawn tell you? Maggie and I are going to the Bronze with you."

Jeff looked at her seriously. "No, you're not."

"Uh, yeah, we are," Autumn corrected.

"Forget it," Jeff suddenly snapped. "Dawn and I just started dating and I don't want little sister tagging along for the ride."

"Well, Dawn is _my_ friend and you wouldn't have even met her without me."

Jeff had to admit that was true but he wouldn't just let it go. "You're not going," he said again lamely.

"Yeah, well, guess what?" Autumn said to him. "Our mother is away suing the life out of our father in New York, therefore I take orders from no one."

"What about the male Mary Poppins?" Jeff reminded her.

Autumn gave him another glare. "His name is Wesley and he doesn't own me." She shrugged. "Besides he doesn't know that I have weird habits of staying out until like one or two in the morning."

Jeff couldn't believe her. "Autumn!"

"Don't Autumn me," she countered. "Ever since this thing with Mom and Dad's divorce Mom isn't so concerned with curfews, anyway."

"You know what?" Jeff held up a hand in defeat. "I don't care if you go or not."

"Good," Autumn smirked. "Now get out while I find something to wear."

"Oh, please," Jeff rolled his eyes. He grabbed a white skirt and lavender top of Autumn's. "What's wrong with just this?"

Autumn looked over the outfit before taking it away from Jeff. "Oh, my God..." she stared at him seriously. "It works! Jeff, you're actually useful for something."

Her older brother rolled his eyes again. "Yay for me."

A/N: I am really sorry I haven't updated this in a while. I'm also sorry that this chapter wasn't longer. It would have been but I have other updates to do. So please review and I'll try to update again as soon as possible.


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